CV Tips for Hospitality Jobs
How to write a CV that gets you interviews — even if you have no formal qualifications. Specific tips for cleaners, hosts, maintenance, managers, drivers, and guides.
No experience? Here's what to highlight
Hospitality employers care more about attitude, reliability, and people skills than formal qualifications. Focus on transferable skills from any background:
Communication
Retail work, volunteering, school projects
Teamwork
Sports teams, clubs, group projects, community activities
Time management
Balancing multiple responsibilities, meeting deadlines
Problem-solving
Any situation where you identified and resolved an issue
Reliability
Perfect attendance, long-term commitments, references
Cultural awareness
Travel experience, language skills, diverse social circles
What to highlight for each role
Cleaner / Housekeeper
- ✓Rooms per hour / rooms per day
- ✓Knowledge of cleaning chemicals and safety (HACCP)
- ✓Trustworthiness and discretion with guest belongings
- ✓Physical stamina and efficiency under time pressure
Check-in Host
- ✓Customer service experience (any industry)
- ✓Language skills — list with CEFR level
- ✓PMS system familiarity (Opera, Cloudbeds, etc.)
- ✓Problem resolution examples with outcomes
Maintenance Technician
- ✓Technical certifications (electrical, plumbing, HVAC)
- ✓Emergency repair response time
- ✓Safety compliance and signage
- ✓CMMS experience (Hotelogix, Maintenance Connection)
Property Manager
- ✓Occupancy rates and RevPAR you've achieved
- ✓Portfolio size (number of properties/rooms)
- ✓Team size managed
- ✓Vendor management and cost savings
Tour Guide / Driver
- ✓Languages and CEFR levels
- ✓Tour types and group sizes
- ✓Clean driving record / license class
- ✓Customer ratings if available
7 actionable tips
Tailor every application
Don't:
“Send the same CV to 20 hotels”
Do:
“Customize skills section for each property type”
For luxury hotel: emphasize attention to detail. For hostel: emphasize energy and adaptability.
Quantify everything
Don't:
“"Responsible for guest check-ins"”
Do:
“"Processed 40+ check-ins daily with 99% accuracy"”
Numbers make achievements concrete and memorable.
Lead with action verbs
Don't:
“"Was responsible for cleaning rooms"”
Do:
“"Maintained 20 rooms daily to 5-star hygiene standards"”
Use: Assisted, Coordinated, Managed, Resolved, Maintained, Trained, Facilitated.
Highlight soft skills with evidence
Don't:
“"Good communication skills"”
Do:
“"Resolved guest complaints with 95% satisfaction rate; trained 5 new team members"”
Every soft skill claim needs a specific example.
Include relevant keywords
Don't:
“Ignoring the job description language”
Do:
“Mirror key terms from the job posting”
Keywords: PMS, Opera, HACCP, POS, CRM, OTA, RevPAR, channel manager.
Show progression if possible
Don't:
“Listing jobs without context”
Do:
“"Promoted from Room Attendant to Floor Supervisor within 8 months"”
Any growth, even informal, shows initiative.
Add a strong professional summary
Don't:
“Starting with a long list of duties”
Do:
“Open with 3-4 sentences summarising your value”
"Hospitality professional with 3+ years in luxury hotel ops. 4.9/5 guest rating. Fluent in Greek, English, German."
Common mistakes to avoid
- ✗Grammar and spelling errors — proofread 3 times, then ask someone else
- ✗Generic objective statement — "Seeking a challenging role in a dynamic company"
- ✗Listing duties instead of achievements — what did you accomplish?
- ✗Unprofessional email address — use firstname.lastname@email.com
- ✗Missing certifications — food safety, first aid, driving license, IELTS
- ✗No languages section — even basic conversational skills matter in tourism
- ✗Too long — entry-level: 1 page max. 10+ years: 2 pages max
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